Part 1 - QRD Recent Draft HistoryWritten by Greg Popovich
This Saturday is the 2020 OHL Priority Selection. It is an exciting time for many minor hockey players who are in their minor midget (U16) year, but it can also be a source of great anxiety and frustration for athletes and their families. Some players are drafted too high, some too low, and many are overlooked altogether. It is a complicated process, and each draft sometimes takes a few years before we can see whether scouts and general managers made good choices, or perhaps opportunities were missed. One of the key things for players and families is to be able to manage expectations during this potentially stressful day. You need to step back a bit from all of the hype, and just try to get through the day. Phone calls or conversations with scouts or general managers are great during the season, but it does not mean that they are actually serious about selecting you. Agents and advisors can also contribute to false expectations about the draft. The best thing to do is to try to think honestly about how your skills, abilities, and potential fit into the big picture. If you have worked your hardest, and given your absolute best effort on the ice and with your teammates, there is really nothing more you can do. If you are a third line player on a middle level team, it is unlikely your name will be one of the 300 that are called on draft day. Fortunately, that does not mean that your competitive hockey career is over. It just might be taking a different path than you hoped for or expected. Many players are finding that a year of midget hockey is a perfect fit for their next step. Perhaps the OJHL is a good fit for your skill set. The OHL Priority Selection is snapshot in time of what a group of “so-called” experts decided to do on one given day. The results of the draft, whether positive of negative do not have to define you as a hockey player. In this two-part article, we will briefly summarize the recent draft history of the organization, and then take a closer look at the 2015 OHL Priority Selection, and look at some of the stories that emerged over the last 5 years, as these players complete their “overage year”.
Recent QRD Draft History
Ninety four Quinte Red Devils have been selected since the 1999 draft, (which is as far back as the statistics on the CHL Website and App will go). Since Stanley Cup Champion Andrew Shaw was selected in the 11th round (215th overall) in 2007, there have been many QRD graduates who have gone on to have successful OHL careers. In 2008 goaltender Kevin Baillie was drafted in the first round by Oshawa, and played for the Generals and the London Knights before moving on to a successful CIS career with Queens University. The 2009 draft brought four players from the 1993 team to the OHL: Tyson Teichmann (Belleville Bulls), Nick Cousins (Soo Greyhounds), Steven Broek (Belleville Bulls), and Zach Hall (Barrie Colts). Cousins is currently playing in the NHL with the Vegas Golden Knights. Alex Yuill had a 5 year OHL career after being a first round pick of the Barrie Colts in the 2011 draft. From the 1996 team, Josh Maguire played 4 years with Peterborough, and Brody Morris played 3 years with the Belleville Bulls and Hamilton Bulldogs.
The 2015 Draft yielded 11 picks from Quinte. Brady Gilmour spent 4 years in Saginaw, before moving on to The University of New Brunswick last September. Jakob Brahaney skated for Kingston for 5 years, and Anthony Popovich played in Guelph for 3 years, winning the OHL Championship in 2019, before moving on to the Flint Firebirds for his over age season. The 2000 team sent Nate Dunkley and Dawson Baker to the OHL, with Dunkley playing in Kingston and London, and Baker playing in Sudbury and Kingston. In the 2017 draft 10 players were selected from the 2001 team. These players have completed 2 seasons with their respective teams: Cameron Supryka (Peterborough Petes and Hamilton Bulldogs), Emmett Pierce (London Knights and Flint Firbirds), Ethan Taylor (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds), and Graham Dickerson (Kitchener Rangers).
From the 2002 team, Isaac Langdon was drafted in the second round of the 2018 draft by the Kitchener Rangers, where he has played for two seasons, and Ben Roger played last season for the London Knights. In the most recent draft, second round pick Daniel Michaud, has completed one season with the Oshawa Generals. Other notable selections were Stanley Cup Champion Brad Richardson, first round pick of the Owen Sound Attack in 2001; Ryan Card a 2nd round selection of the Peterborough Petes in 2000, who played for the Petes and the Guelph Storm; and Jeff Leavitt who was picked in the 3rd round by the Windsor Spitfires in 2002, and finished his OHL career in Belleville with the Bulls.
In part 2, we will look at the 2015 draft in detail and examine some of the stories from that group of players, as well as some other hopeful stories from the last few OHL seasons.